


pink in the night

by appetencies



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, basically a plotless mess, some slight discussion of homophobia, the hurt/comfort isnt too heavy tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 23:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20786720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appetencies/pseuds/appetencies
Summary: Ben finds him sitting on a park bench, getting drenched by the rain.





	pink in the night

Ben finds him sitting on a park bench, getting drenched by the rain. It’s not exactly what he’d gone out for- that had been his usual mid-week snack run- but when he spots Callum there, he has to look a few times just to make sure.

He’s just.. sitting there. Shoulders hunched, completely still save for the slight fiddling of his hands. His stare looks  _ dead, _ for lack of a better word; despite Ben being right in his line of sight, he’s looking as if he’d never even noticed him there. And despite the heavy rain- despite the fact that it’s making his hair stick to his forehead, his clothes look direly uncomfortable- he sits there still.

It’s.. worrying, to say the least, and Ben nearly drops his bag of newly purchased snacks hurrying to get to him. The rain pounds heavily in his ears, and he wonders before he even reaches the bench why the hell Callum’s out here in the pouring rain at 6:30 in the evening when even Ben in his heavy coat feels freezing.

If anything his curiosity- even moreso his concern- only increases when he manages to get a closer look. Callum’s face is red with the cold, but the blotchy redness around his eyes betrays something else, and his hands are shaking uncontrollably as he plays with his fingers. 

Ben’s already taking off his coat to give to him. “Cal,” he says softly, and when he places his hand atop the other’s it’s ice cold. His hand twitches back, instinctively. “Callum?” 

Callum jumps, as if snapped out of a trance. He blinks once, twice, his gaze fixing on Ben’s no doubt worried expression. “Sorry,” he exhales, breath shaky. “Uh-”

Ben’s gaze moves back to the constant tremble of his hands, and some sort of sudden realisation comes over him. “Cal- what are you even doing out here? It’s freezing-” he remembers his coat and rushes to pull it over Callum’s shoulders, but he still doesn’t react aside from a small nod. 

Ben frowns, not caring much for the way the rain is destroying his hair without his hood up. “..Cal, are you okay?”

Callum shakes his head, slowly. Raindrops fall from his hair, trail down his cheeks and jaw.

“You wanna talk about it?” a slower, more hesitant shake of the head. Ben holds his hand and doesn’t flinch away this time. “That’s fine. Can I take you back to mine, though? Don’t think it’d be great to stay out here much longer.”

Finally, Callum looks up, eyes glimmering, and gives a single nod. “Thanks,” he mumbles with a shy smile and slowly gets up, pulling Ben’s coat closer to himself as he does. He’s still shivering, Ben notes, and doesn’t think twice before pulling him flush to his side.

“C’mon,” he says, pointedly ignoring the way Callum all-but collapses into his side and wrapping one arm firm around his waist. For a few moments they just stand, watching the rain, before Ben remembers that he has absolutely no idea how long Callum has been out here for, and isn’t exactly keen on his boyfriend getting hypothermia. “S’probably too late to stop you from getting ill. Least I can do is take care of you for a bit.” they start walking, and for a few seconds all that’s between them is the pitter-patter of raindrops against the ground.

“I don’t.. wanna intrude, or anything.” Callum says slowly, and his voice comes out scratchy. He clears his throat, continues; “If you’re- already busy. Or something.” he scuffs his shoe on the ground nervously. Ben knows the real reason he’s asking, which is that Callum is still slightly scared of Ben’s family, but also knows that he would rather have a slightly annoyed Phil than a frozen-to-death Callum. 

“S’fine.” Ben shrugs, carefully watching Callum’s expression shift to something a little less stressed. “No plans for tonight, anyway.”

“..if you’re sure.” Callum says, and Ben can hear the smile in his voice.

* * *

“Right,” Ben says, when they arrive at his a few minutes later. “You can go take a shower. Your hair looks awful and your clothes look even worse  _ and _ you feel like an icicle right now.”

“You flatter me.” Callum deadpans, shrugging off Ben’s coat and handing it back to him. “And, uh. I don’t really carry spare clothes around with me? So.”

“I’ll find you something of mine.”

Callum raises an eyebrow, smirking. “Did you forget that I’m dead tall and _ you  _ aren’t?” as if Ben  _ could _ forget, because Callum is a little shit and holds it over his head (ha) constantly. “Nothing of yours is gonna fit me.”

“I dunno,” Ben grins up at him, a hand coming up to skim along his arm (which is still very, very cold.) “Always wondered how you’d look in a crop top.”

Callum bats him away with a laugh, but he doesn’t say no.

* * *

Ben, ever-mature, does not actually give Callum clothes that are  _ terribly  _ small on him.

His boyfriend emerges from the bathroom in an old shirt of Ben’s (it does cling to him a bit and exposes a tiny,  _ scandalous _ sliver of his midriff, but Ben really isn’t complaining) and a pair of shorts he must have left over after staying the night a few weeks back. He looks tired still, but when he sees Ben his face lights up just a little. Ben doesn’t doubt that he looks the same; in Jay’s words, he gets this ‘disgusting’ expression on his face when he so much as hears Callum’s name. He will not deny this.

But- Callum looks all sleepy-soft right now, small smile breaking across his features and light sparkle to his eyes, and Ben can’t help but give in to the sudden urge to kiss him. 

It’s short and soft and Ben is kind of worried about any given member of his family seeing, but when Callum pulls away he’s smiling wider than before so it’s worth it.

“You look nice,” Ben says, a bit dumbly, and just stands there.

Callum laughs- the light airy kind that definitely _ doesn’t  _ make Ben’s heartbeat go mad- and slips a hand through his hair, pulling him in for another kiss. And then a few more after that. Though after the next few, which last a lot longer and grow a little more heated, Ben nudges Callum’s arm and mumbles against his lips; “Should probably continue this in my room, yeah?”

Callum nods and he’s properly beaming as they flop onto Ben’s bed, a mess of wide smiles and soft laughter. They don’t quite end up  _ continuing _ much and instead settle for slow, sweet kisses, just melting into eachother like it’s the only thing they’ve ever known. 

Ben wouldn’t mind that, he thinks.

* * *

They’re cuddled into eachother- Callum’s never-ending legs tangled with Ben’s, Ben’s arms wrapped loosely around Callum’s waist- when Callum finally speaks.

“Me and Stuart got into an argument,” he says, sounding vaguely annoyed at nothing in particular. “That’s- that’s why I was just. Sitting there.”

“Did he say something?” Ben asks, trying not to let the overprotectiveness creep through. Callum can fight his own battles, he knows- it’s just irritating to find out that certain shitty people are still being their shitty selves.

Callum shakes his head, humming when Ben starts messing with his hair idly. “No, it’s just- kind of stupid.”

“Probably wasn’t if you were upset enough to go out in that weather.” Ben points out, and yeah Callum can fight his own battles but he’s not especially great at figuring out when he’s really meant to. Though Ben can’t exactly say the same for himself either, so-

“Ugh.” Callum has one hand pressed to his face in annoyance. “He just- started going off on one about how I expect too much from him. Just because I asked him _ not _ to make those- stupid jokes.”

“Jokes?” Ben presses. He runs his fingers through Callum’s hair soothingly, hoping to at least counter the slight anger to his voice.

“You know- small things. I’m  _ gay _ now so apparently I’m meant to be  _ so feminine,  _ should act like some walking stereotype or _ something.  _ And I can- I can deal with that.”  _ you shouldn’t have to, _ Ben wants to say, but doesn’t. He waits for Callum’s breath to regain it’s rhythm, times his own to the steady beat of rain against the window. Callum inhales sharply, his hand reaching up to link their fingers together. “But then earlier he- joked about telling our Dad. How he’d react.”

Ben feels his blood boil, but the anger is quickly smothered by worry when he notices how Callum’s shaking again.

“And I’ve already thought about it. So many times. But then he _ said it _ and I just-” another shuddering breath. “I don’t  _ want  _ to think about it. And I don’t want my brother joking about it because apparently it’s just so  _ funny _ to him-!” Ben seems to realise his boyfriend is crying before Callum himself does, because for a moment he blinks, confused, when Ben’s hand moves from his hair to wipe away the tears.

“I’m sorry.” Ben says. Strokes the back of Callum’s hand with his thumb, because it’s all he really can do. “He’s shitty.”

Callum snorts a little at that, but still shakes his head. “He’s- trying, I know. But I think we’re making progress and suddenly he goes back on it again.” he sighs, pressing his cheek into the fabric of Ben’s shirt. “I just. Wish it was easier.”

And Ben knows. Ben knows it probably won’t ever be, because his dad still can’t look at him the same way he used to, because he can’t walk the streets on his own without looking over his shoulder even now, because he’s still  _ afraid. _

Ben knows that for people like them it’s never going to be  _ easy. _ But in this moment it’s all he wants for it to be.

“Yeah.” Ben’s voice comes out surprisingly quiet. “Yeah, I get it.”

For a moment Callum’s silent. His breath comes in slower, now. “Sorry.” he mumbles, still a slight shake to his words. “S’just. Difficult.”

“Don’t apologise.” it’s near silent, close to being drowned out by the rain outside. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. All you’re asking for is that people treat you half decently.” Callum nods, but doesn’t seem wholly convinced, so Ben continues on; “You’re the one that gets hurt by it. Your brother can survive a bruised ego but you and I both know this shit _ lasts.”  _ Ben could be talking about a million things there, and that just proves his point, really. “And yeah- yeah maybe he’s _ trying.  _ But he needs to try a lot fucking  _ harder _ if he still can’t handle being called out.”

“Alright, alright.” Callum laughs, pushing at Ben’s chest playfully, and he’s at least glad to get a smile out of him. “He is still my brother, even if he’s doing a bit of a shit job at it.”

“He also beat me up like three times and locked me in a car boot.” Ben shoots back, though there isn’t any real heat to it. It’s kind of weird how they’ve gotten to the stage of laughing about how things were, before, but it’s their thing.

“Very sorry about that,” Callum’s happiness seems to be returning, gradually, and though he doesn’t stop holding Ben’s hand the tension has practically melted from his shoulders. “I should make it up to you, really.” he’s got that dumb, almost smug looking expression on his face, and Ben is happy to play right into it.

“And how would you do that?” he asks with a grin. And suddenly they’re a lot closer, Callum leaning up (and wow, you don’t see _ that _ often) until their lips are almost brushing together. And Ben will fully admit to the way his gaze flickers to his boyfriend’s lips, the way he starts to move forward and-

And Callum moves away.  _ The bastard. _

“Dunno,” the absolute demon shrugs, smirking  _ extremely _ smugly. “But whatever it is.. it’s getting late, so guess it’ll have to wait.” with that, he rolls over on his side, away from Ben.

“Asshole.” he laughs, soft, and wraps his arms around Callum’s waist. “Let’s not pretend you can spend more than a second away from me.”

“Never said anything like that,” Callum turns slightly, enough for Ben to press a kiss to his cheek and then his jaw. “But I  _ am _ tired, and  _ you _ need to get some patience.” and there it is; that fond look that creeps in even when Callum  _ does _ look tired, when the evidence of his minor breakdown is still there in his puffy eyes. Even as he eventually drifts off after uttering a quiet thanks, smile still ghosting his features as his breath evens out.

Ben watches him for what feels like forever, and falls asleep to the sound of the rain slowly dying out.

**Author's Note:**

> not pictured: callum getting an absolutely killer cold when he wakes up in the morning
> 
> anyways i hope yall enjoyed!! i got back into a soaps (aka eastenders and waterloo road only) kick recently, discovered these two, proceeded to spend a whole night watching their storyline and here we are! with this unedited MESS! honestly this takes place at... any point in canon lmao. considering what we know about future events this doesn't make a whole lot of sense but whatever i needed my fluff fill!
> 
> but yeah i hope u guys liked it, remember to leave a comment if u do!!


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